Production Support Engineer

Vaco; Saint Petersburg (FL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Vaco is seeking a Tier 3 Production Support Engineer to own complex production issues across desktop and proprietary tech, driving root cause analysis and actionable fixes. You will investigate incidents spanning multiple systems and data layers, requiring broad system understanding and strong SQL skills in a fast-paced, SLA-driven environment.

The role emphasizes documenting findings, creating playbooks, and collaborating with QA, Release Validation, and Development teams to prevent recurring

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience supporting or engineering production systems, preferably fintech or wealth tech.
• Strong SQL proficiency for production data investigation and validation.
• Experience analyzing logs and tracing issues across distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Own Tier 3 tickets escalated from Tier 1 and Tier 2 support for desktop applications and proprietary tech.
• Perform root cause analysis using Azure logs, email trails, traces, and application logs.
• Query production databases in read-only mode to verify data and reproduce issues.
• Investigate missing or inaccurate data, user errors, training gaps, AI responses, outages, alerts, bottlenecks, and slow queries.
• Monitor production alerts and releases; proactively address issues to prevent escalation.
• Identify and communicate workarounds to minimize user impact during fixes.
• Document root causes, findings, and resolution requirements for handoff to Bug Fix/Maintenance.
• Track and prioritize Tier 3 backlog with Production Support Manager/Lead, Product, and Development.
• Develop and maintain troubleshooting playbooks and worksheets for recurring issues.
• Partner with QA and Release Validation to improve regression coverage and prevent incidents.

Job description

Location: M-F onsite in St Pete, FL

Compensation: $120,000-130,000 DOE

Must-Have Qualifications

• Strong SQL proficiency for production data investigation.
• Experience in wealth technology, fintech, trading, or investment management systems.

About the Role

The Tier 3 Production Support Engineer owns complex, escalated production issues across the Desktop and Proprietary Technology pillar. This role investigates incidents to identify root causes, validates findings, and provides Engineering with clear, actionable requirements for resolution.

Issues often span multiple applications, services, and data layers, requiring a broad understanding of how systems interact rather than expertise in a single microservice. The ideal candidate combines strong SQL skills, systematic troubleshooting, and experience supporting financial technology platforms in a fast-paced, SLA-driven environment.

Responsibilities

• Own Tier 3 tickets escalated from Tier 1 and Tier 2 support involving desktop applications and proprietary technology.
• Perform root cause analysis across distributed systems by reviewing Azure and production logs, examining email trails and traces, and adding or interpreting application logging.
• Query production databases in read-only mode to verify data, validate hypotheses, and reproduce issues.
• Investigate missing or inaccurate data, user errors, training gaps, unexpected AI responses, outages, alerts, database bottlenecks, slow queries, and performance degradation.
• Monitor production alerts and releases across the technology pillar, proactively identifying and addressing issues before they escalated.
• Identify and communicate workarounds to minimize user impact while permanent fixes are developed.
• Document confirmed root causes, technical findings, and actionable resolution requirements before handing issues off to the Bug Fix/Maintenance Engineer.
• Track and help prioritize the Tier 3 backlog in partnership with the Production Support Manager/Lead, Product, and Development teams.
• Develop and maintain troubleshooting playbooks and workbooks for common and recurring production issues.
• Partner with QA and Release Validation teams to improve regression coverage and prevent recurring incidents.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience supporting or engineering production systems, with direct exposure to fintech applications in portfolio management, trading, investments, or client management.
• Strong working knowledge of SQL for read-only production investigation, data validation, and troubleshooting.
• Experience analyzing application and infrastructure logs and tracing issues across distributed systems.
• Broad understanding of financial advisors' technology ecosystems, including application, service, and data layers.
• Proven root cause analysis skills, with the ability to distinguish symptoms from underlying causes and validate findings before escalating.
• Strong written communication skills, including the ability to document technical findings, create troubleshooting playbooks, and provide clear stakeholder updates.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and resolve production issues under strict service-level agreement (SLA) requirements.